Chicago: Shopping carts, escalators and lawn mowers injure 35,000 American children every year and should be redesigned, researchers have said.
Last year in the United States, 24,000 children were hurt badly enough to go to the hospital after falling out of shopping carts or toppling over while they rode, a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics said. Three-quarters of the injuries were to the head or neck.
Some children got injured when they were trapped in carts, or fell off while riding on the outside or while standing up inside the basket, the report published in the academy's journal, Pediatrics, said.
The group urged doctors to support changes in cart designs. Meanwhile, parents ought to consider using strollers or wagons, shopping online from home or encouraging children to walk when they are old enough to do so.
Escalators and lawn mowers also cause thousands of injuries to US children each year, reports in Pediatrics said.
